February? And this month has so much in store for all!

Ice Maze at Satoland

Dancers all ready for a whole-night dance theme behind beach back-drop: A thing to see

Carnival is one word I can describe about the month of February. Be it any part of the world February has something for everyone. The first week of February will see this western India's small enchanting beach state, indulge in what is called as Goa carnival 2009. An integral part of the heritage of the portuguese Goa Carnival 2009 marks a total non-stop festival for 3 days which fill the air with abundant colors, song and music. If you have plans to come down and be part of the Goa Carnival 2009, make sure you have itinerary of joining the entourage of King Momo as it marches down the Panjim streets. Goa Carnival 2009 is again a great time to feast on fingerlicking seafood menus. If you freak on seafood, this is going to be the best one you would've ever had, so make sure you are pampering the gastronomer in you the Carnival 2009.

And, Goa Carnival 2009 is a customary orgy that is only meant for people to feast, drink and make merry and comes just before the austere 40 days of Lent fasting and penitence. The Carnival usually will conclude with the very popular red and black dance that is done at the Clube Nacional. So are you there for the feasting-drinking-dancing-merrymaking ecstasy promised by Goa Carnival 2009? Given a chance you are not missing it!

Then, there is the Sapporo Snow Festival 2009 in Japan where the entire place is converted in to a snow museum and is witnessed by millions of globetrotters. It was first started in 1950 when few highschool students erected less than 10 snow stautues. Now, there will be hundreds of beautifully carved snow statues and ice monuments and sculptures to greet one and all at the Odori Koen Park, grounds at Satoland as well as Susukino streets. Susukino is more or less an entertainment district and the nightlife during this part of the year is so vibrant. The Sapporo Snow Festival is an ice festival make the entire place as winter dreamland.

The Sapporo Snow Festival 2009 will happen for week days between February 5th and 11th and the entire places is thronged by global tourists and the skii resorts are almost overbooked for the wonderful skii avenues Sapporo has. The snow mazes and the snow slides there during this time transcend life into fairytale world where kids become ecstatic and adults become almost kids. If you are there during this time you will come home with a tip or two in ice carving and cross-country skiing. If you are a second time or a third time visitor of Sapporo Snow Festival, you will never want to miss one.

And there is anyway cupid heading its way to strike us all with the valentine. So I wish you all a romantic and a memorable February 2009.

TVS Scooty Streak: A Preview

TVS is one brand that’s so popular in villages and in metro cities equally. To achieve such a position, I wonder what kind of strategies the Sundarams would have adopted, but I am obviously amazed at their innovations to please all. I don’t feel hesitant to say that TVS Scooty has become a brand in itself. I will tell you one example: While I drive a 135cc some other brand scooter, my friend always identifies it as TVS Scooty. No! It’s not that she is one who can’t write or read. But it is like how SURF has replaced detergent powder, that I mean this TVS Scooty has replaced a scooter term per se. I salute the guys and innovators at TVS, Scooty will be remembered for a very long time for sure.

Scooty will now pave way to its new kid, the new TVS Scooty Streak, which is the latest addition to their portfolio. I had the chance to sneak into a TVS showroom today when I’d been to Mathikere to give my 135 cc scooter for servicing. The all-new 4-stroke scooterette TVS Scooty Streak seemed like it greeted me with a Hi. I am not a weirdo, but I talk to my scooter and love driving and my vehicle so much that I talk to it literally.

And yes! TVS Scooty Streak sported certainly impressive newer looks relative to Scooty. But I did notice that the double-colored body sentiment has been retained, and it’s only the styling that received much of a tweaking. I can vouch that it is going to appeal the late teens and early 20s’ college population. I especially liked the protuberant striking snout of the front and believe that Scooty Streak can complement a women office commuter’s style and their combination will look cool.

And a 4-stroke Scooty Streak runs on a LiTech engine (a lithium-ion based battery technology). So what? It offers several advantages such as enhanced performance and safety as well as low cost. To support the battery performance, the Scooty Streak is fitted with LED tail lamps, which consume very little power. The headlamp looks as if it’s sporting a smile and I just liked it. I also liked the new side turner lamps, which are elongated triangles and mounted on the sides of the body apron.

The seat contour may be something that TVS is trying and I would love to know how people are going to receive it. Leave that, if you want to know the shock absorption talents of Scooty Streak, well the aluminum shock absorbers are cool and as good as they can be for a 100cc scooter so the ride will be definitely smooth and bump free. In addition, the tyres seem to be broader than Scooty and it will ensure stability and balance. The tyres also are skid resistant according to company sources, so one can freak on a Scooty Streak even on a rainy day.

The glove box houses a mobile charge facility and its cool. The glove box can also be locked. The under seat luggage space is also big enough and the fuel tank is behind under the seat. Mirrors are of the same color as the body and adds to the looks. The footboard is broad and not clumsy.

The 100cc plus Scooty Streak gives better performance than its forerunner Scooty series. The TVS Scooty Streak promises to give best in class mileage and fuel efficiency. TVS Scooty Streak will come under Rs. 40,000 ex-showroom and if you are planning to buy a scooterette to your son or daughter or your young wife, you can go ahead and get one and gift them a TVS Scooty Streak. You have TVS quality and I am not one who is needed to vouch for the TVS’ servicing and customer support.

TVS Scooty Streak is designed and developed to position against big ones from Honda, Suzuki and Kinetic. Basically, Scooty Streak compete with Suzuki Access, Aviator and Kinetic 4S. But as I see this, I think they will not even come close to Scooty Streak in terms of competition. They will be looked as big scooters and only middle-aged male population will look at these with intention of buying them. Quite the contrary, teens (both sexes), the 20s (again both sexes) and the 30s (the ladies) will eye on the new TVS Scooty Streak, and TVS aimed it for the metro sex and can be as grand a success as Scooty is. The new TVS Scooty Streak comes in 5 bold colors; Red, Black, Blue, Pink and Mauve all perfect for metro people. If my TVS Scooty Streak review helped you in anyway to zero in, will you let me know? Happy Scootying on the new Scooty Streak!

TV9 Launches news channel

I was wondering for all these days when Bangalore has a silicon valley of its own; with the country's IT major headquarters and corporate offices here why not Bangalore have its own English News Channel. And here, namma Bengaluru makes it big with the new 24/7 English news channel launching today. The channel is named news9, and is an off shoot of the ABCL which earlier launched the TV9 Kannada for the local people of Karnataka. Although I didn't like the logo pretty much, the tagline 'catch the big news live' is impressive and wish and hope the news9 channel Bangalore is going to rock the news making world.

Come today the country will have a new national news voice from South, precisely from Bangalore. The local news channel TV9 launches a 24-hour English news channel in Bangalore. The local kannada news channel TV9 is quite a popular channel and finds a lot of favor with the sandalwood celebrities, healthcare people, NPOs and even politicians.'

Now the successful channel TV9 together with ABCL takes a leap further and sets its sights on the basically the local news and targets the upwardly mobile young audience and news9 future plans include coverage of the Indian and international news in the most preferred language, English and launches its all new News9 channel Bangalore. The test signal is on air right now and I take pride as a Bangalorean and wish from my heart all the very best to News9 channel. Hopefully, the news people cover facts and takes the name of Bengaluru high on the world map.

Make sure you all 'catch the big news live' from news9 channel Bangalore!

Laugh out loud!!

We all know sardars are laughed off for their follies.
And now for a change ........when a Sardar acts smart...

A Sardar, a German and a Pakistani got arrested consuming alcohol which is a severe offence in Saudi Arabia , so for the terrible crime they would all be sentenced with 20 whip lashes each.

The three will be preparing for the punishment, and the Sheik announced: "It's my first wife's birthday today, and so she has asked me to gift you with one wish each before you are whipped."

Thrilled at this..
The German thinks for a while and says "please tie a pillow to my back." This was done, but the pillow did last for 10 lashes and then the crying and bleeding German had to be carried away.

Then Pakistani was up. After watching the German in horror, he says smugly: "please fix two pillows to my back." But even two pillows could not last for 20 whip lashes and could only take 15 lashes. The Pakistani was also led away whimpering loudly.

The Sardar was the last one up, but before he could say anything, the Sheikh turned to him and said: "You are from the most beautiful part of the world, and your culture is one of the finest in the world. For this, you may have two wishes!"

"Thank you, your Most Royal and Merciful Highness," Sardar replies. "In recognition of your kindness, my first wish is that you give me not 20, but 100 lashes."

"Not only are you an honorable, handsome and powerful man, you seem to be very brave." Sheik says with an admiration on his face. "If 100 lashes is what you desire, then so be it. And what is your second wish?" the Sheik asked.

Sardar smiles and replies, "Tie the Pakistani to my back"

Maruthi Alto: A review

During the last week I did post my review on the Reva Electric Car. For sure I was under the impression that Reva car would appeal very strongly to my site visitors and readers. And, ah! It did appeal but only those eco-friendly geeks. And, how I misjudged before posting that all women could be green lovers? Guess you might have found Reva to be too small a car for single-child families and even no-child families.

Anyways, this week I did lay my hands on Alto, the Maruthi’s very successful small segment car and would like to review this Alto for you to view! Let me request you to not compare the Reva electric car and the Alto. They are way too different and dont fit for a comparitive study.

Anyways....V…V….Vroom….read my Maruthi Alto Review…let’s go!

And, if someone thought only males are crazy about automobiles, I beg to differ, I knew of so many women who are as passionate about clutching and gears as men are! And, for that matter I believe that women give more attention to detail and look for comfort as well as styling when it comes to choosing a car and then the price tag is one that women take a close look at.

If you check out this small yet cute little car, Alto, I would summarize in one phrase that Maruthi Alto is worth a drive to find out what you’ve been looking for in a family car. Ask me for the looks, I would say its cute yet contemporary. It also looks bigger and sturdier than its predecessor the Maruthi 800. It can be taken that Alto is a reliable update and cross between a Maruthi Zen and a Maruthi 800.

Maruthi Alto is bigger than the 800 version and a smaller one than Zen. It has a perky 1100 cc engine with multipoint fuel injection (MPFI) system, which performs well and is defiant even on what are called disastrous kind of Indian roads. The power steering is optional and comes with the Lxi and Vxi models. Power steering, I would say is a thrill on traffic jammed roads and enables you to inch out and swim through with such ease.

While both Maruthi 800 and Alto are fuel efficient cars from Maruthi, Alto has a bigger engine and is also heavier than 800 so although the economy might not be as good as the Maruthi 800, I would bet that it still be better choice for its sheer driving experience. Alto comes with better air-conditioning (but the power comes down when you switch on the AC), and the gear shifting is quite smooth in the Alto. The varying seat height levels and features like lights on alarm or key in reminders are just so sweet in this cute little devil. The visibility is quite decent from the dashboard and the hatchback windows makes Alto as loveable as one see it on roads.

Alto gives a mileage of 18-20 km per liter with AC on and 20-22 without the AC. No wonder Maruthi Alto is adjudged by customers as the best entry level car and is fast becoming the most preferred and sensible choice for the conservative middle class car buyers. Will you believe that there are over 1 million Maruthi Alto cars plying on Indian roads? And for sure to me, Maruthi Alto had been a fun to drive.

The LX model is the most-value-for-money version of the Alto and its features:
Engine: Four-valved MPFI with about 1061 cc displacement
Acceleration: Alto vrooms 0-100 kmph in 20 seconds and does a max of 160 kmph delivering a maximum power of 45 bhp and 6000 rpm.
Colors: Alto is sold in Solid bright red, Laguna blue, cool silver, Miami gold, Coral beige and Superior white, wine red, Carribean blue, brilliant yellow colors.
Looks: Proportioned looks although conventional
Capacity: Four persons
Price: INR 275,000 (+ 50,000 )

Affordability and low maintenance cost is the philosophy of Maruthi Alto. So next time, you have a car TBD, make sure you drive an Alto without fail. Let me know if my Maruthi Alto review had been of any help to you.